October 06, 2011

The parents of al Qaeda propagandist Samir Khan have released a statement in which they claim their son "broke no law" and expressed anger at the U.S. government for killing him.

Broke no law?!?!?!

I am so outraged by this statement from the Khan family that I'm not sure I can actually write this post with any coherence.

Here's the statement:

We, the family of Samir Khan, in our time of grief and mourning, request that the media let us have our peace and privacy during this difficult time.

It has been stated in the media that Samir was not the target of the attack; however no U.S. official has contacted us with any news about the recovery of our son’s remains, nor offered us any condolences.

As a result, we feel appalled by the indifference shown to us by our government.

Being a law-abiding citizen of the United States, our late son Samir Khan never broke any law and was never implicated of any crime. The Fifth Amendment states that no citizen shall be 'deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law' yet our government assassinated two of its citizens.

Was this style of execution the only solution? Why couldn’t there have been a capture and trial?

Where is the justice? As we mourn our son, we must ask these questions.

Sincerely,

The Khan Family.

Their son was a "law abiding citizen" who "broke no law"?

Are you kidding me?

Samir Khan wrote of himself that he was an American traitor. See for yourselves.

In that same issue of Inspire magazine, Khan wrote that he was "al Qaeda all the way."

Khan was guilty of being a traitor and a terrorist. He was no longer blogging from his parents' basement in Charlotte. He was in Yemen with al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula!

He published a magazine that showed its readers how to make bombs --- and then encouraged them to use those bombs on American citizens!

If any one is owed an apology it is the American people from the Khan family for raising a terrorist -- not the other way around.

Further, those on the fringe Left and Right -- who's argument the Khan's have adopted -- who are outraged at Khan and al-Awlaki's killing use the common logical fallacy inherent in all slippery slope arguments when they claim that the President is asserting that he can kill any American at any time without any oversight.

This is complete hogwash. We are not talking about some hypothetical American, we are talking about two very specific Americans -- both of whom belong to an organization that is at war with America!

I'll respond to your hypothetical with this one: what if there were American citizens fighting for Germany in WWII? Would it be "illegal" to kill them on the field of battle?

Of course not!

The GWOT is an unconventional war, but it is war nonetheless. Members of al Qaeda are not "criminals" they are "enemy combatants".

Because of this, Awlaki and Khan are both legitimate targets. In war, you don't give your enemies a trial -- you kill them!

Had the Khan family simply said that they would like to be left alone so they could mourn the loss of their son, that would be understandable. I could live with that.

But claiming the US owes them an apology for killing a terrorist? That crosses a line.